ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
8x8 is transforming the future of business communications as a leading Software-as-a-Service ("SaaS") provider of voice, video, contact center, and communication APIs powered by a global cloud communications platform. 8x8 empowers workforces worldwide by connecting individuals and teams so they can collaborate faster and work smarter from anywhere. 8x8 provides real-time business analytics and intelligence giving its customers unique insights across all interactions and channels on our platform so they can support a distributed and hybrid working model while delighting their end-customers and accelerating their business. 8x8 has approximately 1.8 million paid business users.
Until recently, the unified communications market had been one of the last to move to the cloud. This past year's rapid acceleration of digital transformation has boards and executive leadership teams increasingly looking towards secure cloud communications as a core element of business resilience. Through seamless, personalized engagement, these organizations are able to drive differentiated customer experiences. We believe the ability for employees to communicate productively from either a single, easy-to-use application or directly within their existing business applications is quickly becoming a fundamental differentiator in digital transformation.
The 8x8 open communications platform is a highly available, fully redundant solution, supported by a single, standard and financially-backed Service Level Agreement across unified communications as a service ("UCaaS") and contact center as a service ("CCaaS"). It is one of the industry’s most complete cloud technology stack and operates in a SaaS business model. A consistent data layer across the platform powers 8x8 AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning) algorithms to deliver data-driven business insights and intelligent, comprehensive, and integrated applications that drive employee productivity, resource optimization, and more effective end customer interactions. Our cloud communications, contact center, and collaboration solutions are designed for easy deployment, management, and use, operating across multiple devices and locations for any business workflow or global environment. Built from core cloud technologies that we own and manage internally, our platform solution enables 8x8 customers to rely on one provider for their global communications, video meetings, contact center and customer support requirements.
The 8x8 Platform Strategy
We offer a highly scalable and configurable cloud communications platform comprising voice, video meetings, chat and team collaboration, contact center, communication APIs, and analytics for businesses of all sizes across the globe. Customers can start out with an individual service or combination of services, for example, with video conferencing or phone service, and then scale their usage over time by enabling additional services, capabilities and analytics offerings when ready. The key attributes of the 8x8 solution include:
•Unified Communications, Collaboration, and Contact Center on a single, API-based Cloud Technology Platform. We believe that a common platform for communication and collaboration drives more efficient employee and customer engagement and greater business productivity. Unlike many of our principal competitors, we own the core technology and manage the platform behind all of our services: voice, video meetings, contact center, chat and team collaboration, and communications APIs. We believe having control over our entire platform enables us to deliver a more consistent and seamless experience for our customers across all aspects of the service from the user interface to the technical support experience.
•Big Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence. We have developed a suite of web-based analytics tools to help customers make informed decisions based on underlying communications data associated with 8x8 services and supported devices. We continue to make strategic investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to develop new capabilities and features for our customers such as context-rich customer engagements, intelligent call routing and faster first-call resolution.
•Global Reach®. 8x8's Global Reach® technology provides enterprise-grade quality of service, reliability, security and support for our multinational customers. Our platform utilizes intelligent geo-routing technology and leverages data centers across globally dispersed regions - North America, South America, Continental Europe, Asia, and Australia - to provide consistently high call quality to customers worldwide.
•Intuitive User Experience. Our web, desktop, and mobile interfaces act as the communications portal for all 8x8 services and provide customers with a familiar, consistent and integrated user experience across all endpoints.
•Committed Service Quality and Availability over the Public Internet. We offer a single, standard Service Level Agreement (“SLA”) for our enterprise customers across our contact center and business communications services. This SLA includes meaningful uptime and voice quality commitments, backed by service credits and a no-penalty early termination right for the customer under specified conditions.
•Configurability and Flexibility. Each service plan in our flagship offering, X Series, is designed for the different roles in a company so customers only pay for the features each role needs. No matter what the business communication or contact center needs are now, X Series has a service plan designed to meet them, while giving customers an easy way to expand and upgrade their communications options in the future. The simplicity and ease of configuration and deployment is due to all solutions being owned by 8x8 and sharing the same platform.
•Rapid Deployment. Business agility in the global, modern economy is a competitive necessity, and we embrace the notion that communication services should be deployable as quickly as possible, including across highly distributed businesses with multiple facilities or remote workforces. Our services can generally be provisioned in minutes from web-based administrative tools, and we continue to increase the automation across our deployment, billing, and support systems to provide greater speed and flexibility for our customers. To ensure consistency and quality across our services and customer base, we have developed a standard, yet flexible, deployment methodology. We apply this systematic approach to all of our deployments, regardless of size or complexity.
•Integration with Third-Party Business Applications. Our software uses a combination of open APIs and pre-built integrations to retrieve contextually relevant data from, and to enhance the functionality of, a wide variety of customers' third-party applications, including Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Google, NetSuite, Okta, Zendesk, Oracle Sales Cloud, Bullhorn, Aryaka, and Hubspot.
•Emphasis on Security and Compliance. Our security program is designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our customers data. We believe we have created a top-down culture of security and compliance, including a commitment to secure architecture and development. As such, we have made significant investments in achieving compliance with various industry standards for data security and related third-party certifications.
•Jitsi Open Source Video Project. 8x8 is the sponsor and primary contributor to the Jitsi secure video conferencing open source project. We operate jitsi.org and the Jitsi Meet service, and develop our Video Meetings portfolio based on this code. 8x8 offers the Jitsi community an intuitive upgrade path to rich, supported communications applications.
Our Solutions Through our integrated technology platform, we offer our customers a portfolio of voice, video, contact center, chat and team collaboration, communication APIs and business analytics solutions which include:
•8x8 Work: a self-contained, feature-rich, end-to-end United Communications solution that delivers enterprise voice with PSTN connectivity, secure video meetings and unified messaging powered by one global cloud communications platform.
•8x8 Contact Center: a multi-channel cloud-based contact center solution that enables both large and small contact centers to enjoy the same customer experience and agent productivity benefits previously available only to large contact centers at a much higher cost.
•8x8 Meet: a cloud-based video conferencing and collaboration solution that enables secure, continuous collaboration with borderless high definition (HD) video and audio communications from mobile and desktop devices anywhere in the world.
•8x8 Team Messaging: an integrated open team messaging platform to facilitate modern modes of communication with support for direct messages, public and private team messaging rooms, short messaging service ("SMS"), presence, emojis, and “@ mentions” (i.e., embedded links directed at named users). With our team messaging technology, our customers can collaborate across more than twenty third-party messaging solutions.
•8x8 CPaaS: a comprehensive set of global communications platform-as-a-service ("CPaaS") capabilities that enable business to directly integrate our platform services within their websites, mobile apps and business systems for personalized customer engagement at high scale. Our SMS, Chat App, Video Interaction, 8x8 Jitsi-as-a-Service, and Voice APIs enable companies to reach their customers anywhere with a proven, reliable global network. The AI-powered 8x8 Callstats Service provides real-time metrics and analytics on a WebRTC session to improve voice and video quality of service.
8x8 X Series
The capabilities of our core communications solutions are integrated into a comprehensive bundled offering called 8x8 X Series in addition to being available on an individual basis. X Series service plans are designed so customers pay for only those capabilities the business needs while providing businesses with an upgrade path over time as their needs evolve and grow.
Designated X1 through X8, we offer the following service plans and capabilities in the 8x8 X Series:
•X1 through X4 provide enterprise-grade voice, unified communications, video meetings and team collaboration functionality. Delivered from a single platform, these service plans provide one application for business voice, team messaging and meetings so that employees can quickly, easily and with just one click move from a chat message to a phone call to a video conference. Users can access the essential communication and collaboration features through the desktop app, mobile app or a desk phone. As a business grows, the details and features of plans can be mapped to business needs such as a lobby or store floor, a global caller organization, or to supervisor/analyst requirements. Features expected by demanding communications and collaboration customers today, such as: auto attendants; worldwide extension dialing; corporate directory with click-to-call functionality; presence, messaging and chat; call recording; call monitoring; internet fax; and the ability to interact contextually with inbound communication (email, call or chat) can be mixed and matched for customizable packages fit for business to most effectively meet the needs of individual users.
•X5 through X8 generally provide the features of X1 through X4, plus contact center functionality. These service plans deliver employee experience and deep customer engagement through integrated cloud communication, contact center software and video meetings solutions. Whether the customer is managing a startup or a large enterprise, 8x8 X Series provides the communication capabilities that contact center agents need to respond faster using instant access to relevant information and subject matter experts. Designed to ensure that customers pay for only the requirements needed, there are four X Series Cloud Contact Center service plans: the Voice-Focused Contact Center with Predictive Dialer Plan; the Voice-Focused Contact Center with Advanced Reporting Plan; the Multichannel Contact Center with Advanced Reporting Plan; and the Multichannel Contact Center with Advanced Analytics and Predictive Dialer Plan, inclusive of quality management, speech analytics, and outbound predictive AI dialer.
The result is a communication, meeting, and contact center engagement platform that enables businesses to move at the speed of employee and customer expectations, leading to less churn and more revenue. While we believe in and continue to emphasize the power of the platform as the collective offering of our solutions, we also make our solutions available independently to introduce customers to our platform and expand their platform engagement over time.
Routes to Market
We sell directly to customers or through indirect sales channels . Our indirect sales channel consists of global and regional networks of value-added resellers ("VARs") and carriers, as well as a partner network consisting of master agents and the sub-agent community, independent software vendors ("ISVs"), system integrators, and service providers selling 8x8 solutions to small, mid-market, and enterprise businesses.
Our Customers
We have a diverse and growing customer base of more than 58,000 companies in more than 150 countries, with no single customer representing 10% or more of our revenues in fiscal 2021, 2020, and 2019. This includes companies of every size and across a wide range of industries and use cases.
Marketing and Promotional Activities
We market our services directly to end users through a variety of means, including search engine marketing and optimization, third-party lead generation sources, industry conferences, trade shows, webinars, and digital advertising channels. We primarily sell our solutions and subscriptions through a direct sales organization, consisting of inside and field-based sales agents based in the U.S. and internationally.
Research and Development
The cloud communications market is characterized by rapid technological changes and advancements, typical of most SaaS markets. Accordingly, we make substantial investments in the design and development of new products and services, as well as the development of enhancements and features to our existing products and services, and make these enhancements available to our customers frequently. We currently employ individuals in research, development, and engineering activities in the United States, United Kingdom, Romania, Singapore, and Philippines, as well as outsourced software development consultants around the world.
Intellectual Property
As of March 31, 2021, we have been awarded more than 250 patents, with more than 100 U.S. and foreign patent applications pending. Our portfolio of patents, with expiration dates through 2038, and patent applications cover diverse aspects of our unified communications, video, API, collaboration and contact center services and infrastructure.
Our business relies on a combination of trade secrets, patents, copyrights, trademarks laws and contractual restrictions, such as confidentiality agreements, licenses, and intellectual property assignment agreements. We require our employees, contractors, and other third parties to sign agreements providing for the maintenance of confidentiality and also the assignment of rights to inventions made by them while providing services to us. We also use software components in our platform that are licensed to the public under open source licenses.
See the section entitled “Risks Related to Intellectual Property” in Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors," for more information on our intellectual property risks.
Competition
Given the size and stage of the current market opportunity and the breadth of services provided by our communications platform, we face competition from many companies, including cloud communications providers of voice, video, chat and collaboration, contact center, and communication APIs as well as other cloud services providers, incumbent telephony companies and resellers of legacy communications equipment described below. We believe that the cost of ownership benefits and superior user experience provided by the integration of our services over a common platform differentiates our services from those offered by these competitors.
Cloud Communications Providers of Voice, Video, Chat and Collaboration, Contact Center and Communication APIs: For customers looking to implement cloud-based communications, our single services platform competes with other cloud communication providers of voice, chat, collaboration, contact center and communication APIs such as RingCentral, Inc., Vonage Holdings Corp., Genesys, Zoom Video Communications, Inc., Five9, Inc., NICE inContact, and Twilio Inc., among others.
Internet and Cloud Services Vendors: We also face competition from communications and cloud vendors such as Cisco Systems, Inc., Google, Inc., Amazon Web Services, Inc., and Microsoft Corporation, among others, some of which are well established in the communications industry while others have only recently begun to market cloud communications solutions.
Incumbent Telephony Companies and Legacy Equipment Providers: Our cloud-based software replaces wire line business voice services sold by incumbent telephone and cable companies such as AT&T, Inc., CenturyLink, Inc., Comcast Corporation, and Verizon Communications, Inc. often in conjunction with on-premises hardware solutions from companies like Avaya, Inc., Cisco and Mitel Networks Corp. At the same time, some of these incumbent communication companies have launched their own cloud communication services to more directly compete with us and other cloud communication providers.
See the section entitled “Risks Related to Our Business and Industry” in Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors," for more information on our risks related to competition.
Operations
Our operations infrastructure consists of data management, monitoring, control, and billing systems that support all of our products and services. We invest substantial resources to develop and implement our service monitoring real-time call management information system. Key elements of our operations infrastructure include customer quoting and ordering capabilities, customer provisioning, customer access control, fraud control, network security, video, voice and SMS message routing, quality monitoring, media processing and normalization, call reliability, detailed call record and message storage, transactional metering for usage-based services, product interfaces and billing and integration with third-party applications. Our software platform manages the admission, control, rating, and routing of calls and SMS messages to their appropriate destinations. The platform and its assets have been built to ensure connectivity, redundancy, security, and scalability. Our tools and processes aim at maximizing communications range, quality, and reliability.
Network Operations Center: We maintain global network operations centers around the world and employ experienced staff in voice and data operations in U.S., U.K., Romania, Indonesia, Singapore and Philippines to provide 24-hour operations support, seven days per week, whether working in our network operations centers or remotely. We use various tools including an extensive set of synthetic tests and Application Performance Monitoring to monitor and manage elements of our network and our partners' and certain larger customers’ networks in real time. Additionally, our network operations centers provide technical support to troubleshoot equipment and network problems, monitor the quality of the communications transiting on the platform and connectivity with our network (including SMS and voice providers, mobile network operators, 3rd party applications, and data partners), and monitor the health and connectivity of our customer integrations. We also rely upon the network operations centers of our telecommunications carrier partners and data center providers to augment our monitoring and response efforts. Even though our and our partner data centers have been designated as essential business, which are exempt from shelter-in-place requirements in the locations where we operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, our globally dispersed operations and remotely working capabilities allow us to maintain redundant back-up operations services to minimize or eliminate the impact of any local disruptions at any of our operations centers or data centers.
In the event of a major disruption at a data center, such as a natural disaster or service disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic, failover between data centers or public cloud regions for 8x8 X Series is designed to occur with no or minimal disruption. In addition, most of the maintenance services performed by 8x8 do not interrupt the service we provide to customers.
Customer and Technical Support: 8x8 maintains a global customer support organization with operations in the United States, United Kingdom, Philippines, Singapore, and Romania. Customers can access 8x8 customer support services directly from the company website, or receive multi-channel technical support via phone, chat, web, and email. Emergency support is available on a 24x7 basis.
We take a lifecycle approach to customer support, supporting customers from on-boarding to deployment, and through the renewal process, to drive greater user adoption of 8x8 services. For our larger enterprise customers, our implementation methodology utilizes a deployment management team and provides active support through the "go-live" date at each customer site. We also have a Premium plus success program, and, for a certain profile of customer, a dedicated customer engagement manager, as a single point of contact for every aspect of the post-sale relationship. Finally, we offer a variety of training classes through our 8x8 University, either through instructor-led classes or self-paced online learning.
Interconnection Agreements: We have agreements with SMS, voice providers, and mobile network operators worldwide. Pursuant to these agreements, we can provide inbound and outbound telephony and SMS messaging services to traditional telecommunication systems and mobile networks worldwide through our platform via these carriers.
Regulatory Matters
In the United States, at the federal level, we are subject to regulation by the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") as a provider of Voice over Internet Protocal ("VoIP"), as well as state and local regulations applicable to VoIP providers. For example, regulations we are subject to include E-911 services, porting of phone numbers under specific conditions, protection of customer data generated by the use of our services, and obligations to contribute to federal programs including universal service fund and other regulatory funds as well as state and local 911 and universal service funds.
In addition to regulations at the federal and state levels, many states are also enacting privacy legislation that apply to companies such as us which collect, store, and process many types of data, including personal data. In particular, California has recently enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"). The CCPA imposes new obligations on qualifying for- profit companies, such as us, doing business in California, and substantially increases potential liability for such companies for failure to comply with data protection rules applicable to California residents.
Internationally, we are subject to a complex patchwork of regulations that vary from country to country. Some countries have adopted laws that make the provision of VoIP services illegal within the country. Other countries have adopted laws that impose stringent licensing obligations on providers of VoIP services like ours. In many countries, it is not clear how laws that have historically been applied to traditional telecommunications providers will be applied to providers of VoIP services like us. In the European Union ("EU"), the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") imposes obligations on all companies that collect, store, and process many types of data, including personal data, like us, and substantially increases potential liability for all companies, including us, for failure to comply with data protection rules.
The effect of any future laws, regulations and orders, or any changes in existing laws or their enforcement, including the application of new taxes and regulations on communication applications like ours running over the internet, on our operations cannot be determined. See the section entitled “Risks Related to Regulatory Matters” in Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors," for more information on these risks.
Geographic Areas
We have one reportable segment. Financial information relating to revenues generated in different geographic areas are set forth in Note 11, Geographical Information, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this Annual Report.
Employees and Human Capital
8x8 is transforming the future of business communications as a leading SaaS provider of voice, video, chat, contact center and enterprise-class API solutions powered by one global cloud communications platform. Our goal is not only to accelerate how businesses work, connect, and communicate but to be thoughtful about the impact we make on our shareholders, customers, our people and the planet. We conduct our business socially and ethically. We obey the law, encourage universal human rights and protect the environment. We aim to create an environment that not only embraces creativity and diversity but is financially rewarding for the people who believe in us.
Culture & Engagement: 8x8 is transforming modern communication, driven by 3 key pillars and anchored by our values: Customer First, Product First, Team First. These values are at the center of everything we do, and they both drive our daily culture, and provide the backbone of our Fast Start program, which is a 2-day immersive on-boarding program for all new hires that provides direct access to key executives. As ONE global team powered by the 8x8 platform, we are able to leverage diverse talent around the globe to ensure that we are always at the forefront of our industry.
As of March 31, 2021, we had 1,696 full time employees operating around the world, of which 44% are located outside of the USA. None of our employees are represented by a labor union nor subject to a collective bargaining arrangement.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: As a communications company with a growing international presence, it is vital our workforce is as diverse as the customers we serve. We are a global company, operating across the world to change the way that communication gets done. Our commitment to diversity is visible from the boardroom to the server rooms, and we have put in place a number of programs to ensure that we are continuously improving, including establishing three diversity councils across our global footprint in 2021. When hiring, we strive to keep our candidate pools as diverse as possible to ensure that we are always bringing new viewpoints into the 8x8 team. For ongoing employees, our Women in Tech program hosts a variety of events such as online webinars, workshops and speaker series in order to drive leadership development, work-life integration and personal brand building.
We are always looking to expand our role as a champion of employee diversity, equity and inclusivity, and are evaluating and formalizing key processes to monitor our hiring and reward programs, and ensure that all employees can play to win at 8x8.
Rewards: We provide competitive total rewards packages in order to hire and retain the key talent that we need to operate. We offer benefits packages to care for the total health of our employees and their families including comprehensive health care, which we subsidize at a greater level for our foundational employees. Further, we offer paid medical and parental leave as well as company funded short and long term disability. We also offer company funded mental health services through our global employee assistance program. To support our working families, we offer a comprehensive global pregnancy and family support program. Our online Play to Win recognition program allows employees to highlight the outstanding performance of their colleagues, while our CEO Award is delivered to top performers across the company that are driving our success.
We also offer multiple ways for employees to become stakeholders, and share in the company’s success:
•Equity Grants – Our robust equity award program provides equity grants for employees upon hire, as well as on-going and spot awards to reward high performers and ensure continuing employee engagement.
•8x8 Employee Stock Purchase Plan – Our stock purchase plan allows our employees to build a stake in the company over time, while also benefiting from the program’s tax-advantaged design.
•Base Pay for Stock Programs – In fiscal 2021, employees had the option to receive a percent of their base salary and bonus in quarterly equity grants. This program has the dual benefit of freeing up cash for the company’s ongoing investments in our technology, while also providing employees with an advantageous way to acquire additional equity in the company. Employees will have the ability to participate in a similar program in fiscal 2022.
Available Information
We were incorporated in California in February 1987 and reincorporated in Delaware in December 1996. We maintain a corporate Internet website at the address http://www.8x8.com. The contents of this website are not incorporated in or otherwise to be regarded as part of this Annual Report. We file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, which are available on our website free of charge. These reports include annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to such reports, each of which is provided on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such materials with or furnish them to the SEC. In addition, the SEC maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, including 8x8.
Information About Our Executive Officers
Our executive officers as of the date of this report are listed below.
David Sipes, Chief Executive Officer and Director. David Sipes, age 54, has served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors since December 2020. From June 2008 to June 2020, Mr. Sipes served in a number of senior leadership roles including chief operating officer for five years at RingCentral, Inc., a provider of enterprise cloud communications and collaboration solutions. Mr. Sipes also serves as a director of PandaDoc Inc., a document automation software company, since May 2020. Mr. Sipes has an MBA from Northwestern University and a BS in Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.
Bryan Martin, Director and Chief Technology Officer. Bryan Martin, age 53, has served as Chief Technology Officer of the Company since September 2013 and as a director since February 2002. Mr. Martin also served as Chairman of the Board from December 2003 until December 2020. From February 2002 to September 2013, he served as Chief Executive Officer. From March 2007 to November 2008, and again from April 2011 to December 2011, he served as President. From February 2001 to February 2002, he served as our President and Chief Operating Officer. He served as our Senior Vice President, Engineering Operations from July 2000 to February 2001 and as Chief Technical Officer from August 1995 to August 2000. He also served as a director of the Company from January 1998 through July 1999. In addition, Mr. Martin served in various technical roles for the Company from April 1990 to August 1995. He received a B.S. and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Samuel Wilson, Chief Financial Officer. Samuel Wilson, age 51, was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Company in June 2020. Prior to his appointment, he served as Chief Customer Officer and Managing Director of EMEA from January 2020 until June 2020. From September 2017 until January 2020, Mr. Wilson served as Senior Vice President responsible for eCommerce, global small business, and U.S. mid-market sales. Prior to joining 8x8, Mr. Wilson served as VP Finance for MobileIron, an enterprise software security company, from 2011 until 2017 with responsibilities for financial planning and analysis, investor relations, and treasury functions as well as eCommerce. Mr. Wilson is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Seattle University and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.
Germaine Cota, Chief Accounting Officer. Germaine Cota, age 40, has served as Chief Accounting Officer since November 2020 and Global Vice President, Corporate Controller and Treasurer since January 2020. Prior to 8x8, Ms. Cota served as the U.S. CFO for Nikkei listed Mercari, Inc., a peer-to-peer e-commerce platform, from August 2018 to December 2019. From April 2013 to August 2018, Ms. Cota held various accounting, accounting operations, and financial reporting roles at LinkedIn Corporation, an online services business with the world's largest professional network. Prior to LinkedIn, Ms. Cota spent over nine years in assurance and advisory services at Ernst & Young, LLP. Ms. Cota holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Santa Clara University and is a Certified Public Accountant in California.
Dejan Deklich, Chief Product Officer. Dejan Deklich, age 46, has served as our Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President since September 2017. Mr. Deklich had been serving as our Senior Vice President of Research and Development since February 2017. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Deklich served as Vice President of Platform and Cloud at Splunk, a company that produces software for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated big data, from January 2013 to September 2016. Mr. Deklich also held various senior roles at Nice System, a leading provider of software solutions enabling organizations to improve customer experience and business results, post Merced Systems acquisition, as well as Atribbutor, a digital piracy prevention service for ebooks, Yahoo, a search engine provider, and IBM Research, an industrial research organization and the innovation engine of the IBM corporation. Mr. Deklich holds a Masters of Science degree in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University and Masters in Physics from University of Bremen, Germany.
Matthew Zinn, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Privacy Officer and Secretary. Matthew Zinn, age 57, has served as our Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary, and Chief Privacy Officer since September 2018. Mr. Zinn previously served as General Counsel and Secretary at Jaunt, Inc., a maker of augmented reality technology, from June 2017 to September 2018. From April 2006 until January 2017, Mr. Zinn served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary, and Chief Privacy Officer for TiVo Inc., a maker of digital video recording products and services. Prior to that at TiVo, Mr. Zinn had served as Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Privacy Officer since July 2000 and as Corporate Secretary since November 2003 of TiVo Inc. Prior to TiVo, Mr. Zinn held senior legal positions at cable television providers MediaOne Group Inc. and Continental Cablevision and the law firms of Cole, Raywid & Braverman and Fisher, Wayland, Cooper & Leader. Mr. Zinn holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Vermont and holds a J.D. degree from the George Washington University National Law Center.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this report. If any of the following risks or other risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and future prospects could be materially harmed, and the price of our common stock could decline. Our business could also be materially and adversely affected by risks and uncertainties that are not presently known to us or that we currently believe are not material. Unless otherwise indicated, references to our business being harmed in these risk factors will include harm to our results of operations, financial condition, reputation and future prospects.
Risk Factors Table of Contents
Risks Related to our Business and Industry
We have a history of losses, have incurred significant negative cash flows in the past, and anticipate continuing losses in the future. As such, we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the future.
We recorded a net operating loss of approximately $146.1 million for the twelve months ended March 31, 2021, and ended the period with an accumulated deficit of approximately $591.1 million. We expect to continue to incur operating losses in the near future as we continue to invest in our business. During our fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, we intend to invest in sales and marketing, and in research and development, among other areas of our business, in order to compete more successfully for the business of companies that are transitioning to cloud communications and otherwise position ourselves to take advantage of long-term revenue-generating opportunities.
We expect to continue to incur losses for at least the next fiscal year and later and we will need to increase our rate of revenue growth in order to generate and sustain operating profitability in future periods. The investments we have made in fiscal 2021 and beyond may not generate the returns that we anticipate, which could adversely impact our financial condition and make it more difficult for us to grow revenue and/or achieve profitability in the time period that we expect, or at all. In order to achieve profitability, we will need to manage our cost structure more efficiently, not incur significant liabilities, while continuing to grow our revenues. Despite these efforts, our revenue growth may slow, revenues may decline, or we may incur significant losses in the future due to the continuing impact of COVID-19 and any resulting downturn in general economic conditions, increasing competition (including competitive pricing pressures), decrease in the adoption or sustained use of cloud communications market, exiting lines of business, or our inability to execute on business opportunities. Given our history of fluctuating revenues and operating losses, we cannot be certain that we will be able to achieve or maintain operating profitability in the future.
Our future operating results, including revenues, expenses, losses and profits, may vary substantially from period to period and may be difficult to predict. As a result, we may fail to meet or to exceed the expectations of market analysts or investors, which could negatively impact our stock price.
Our historical operating results have fluctuated and will likely continue to fluctuate in the future, and a decline in our operating results could cause our stock price to fall. On an annual and a quarterly basis, there are a number of factors that may affect our operating results, some of which are outside our control. These include, but are not limited to:
•changes in market demand;
•customer cancellations, subscription downgrades and/or service credits;
•changes in the competitive dynamics of our market, including consolidation among competitors or customers;
•lengthy sales cycles and/or regulatory approval cycles;
•new product introductions by us or our competitors;
•the mix of our customer base, sales channels, and services sold;
•the number of additional customers, on a net basis;
•the amount and timing of costs associated with recruiting, training and integrating new employees;
•unforeseen costs and expenses related to the expansion of our business, operations and infrastructure;
•continued compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements;
•material security breaches or service interruptions due to cyber attacks or infrastructure failures or unavailability; and
•introduction and adoption of our cloud software solutions in markets outside of the United States.
Due to these and other factors, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations are not meaningful and should not be relied upon as indicators of our future performance. It is possible that in some future periods our results of operations may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors.
In addition, changes in regulations, accounting principles, and our interpretation of these and judgments used in applying them, could have a material effect on our results of operations. We also need to revise our business processes, systems, and controls which requires significant management attention and may negatively affect our financial reporting obligations. If any of these were to occur, the price of our common stock would likely decline significantly.
Churn in our customer base adversely impacts our revenues and requires us to spend money to retain existing customers and to capture replacement customers. If we experience further increases in customer churn in the future, our revenue growth will be further adversely impacted and our customer retention costs will increase.
Our customers may elect not to renew their subscriptions at the end of their contractual commitment. Because of churn, we must acquire new customers and sell additional 8x8 products and services to our existing customers on an ongoing basis in order to maintain our existing level of revenue. As a result, sales and marketing expenditures are an ongoing requirement of our business. Our ability to maintain and grow our revenues is adversely impacted by the rate at which our customers cancel or downgrade service. Churn reduces our revenue growth rate, and if our churn rate increases, we have to acquire even more new customers and/or sell more products and services to existing customers, in order to maintain and grow our revenues. We incur significant costs to acquire new customers, and those costs are a meaningful component in driving our net profitability. Churn may also prevent us from increasing the price of our services in the future as well as limiting our ability to sell additional 8x8 products and services to our existing customers and we may need to renew certain customers at a lower rate, each of which would adversely impact our revenues in the future. Therefore, if we are unsuccessful at managing our existing customer churn and/or our customer churn rate increases in the future, our revenue growth would decrease and our revenues may decline causing our net loss to increase.
Our rate of customer cancellations or downgrades in services may increase in future periods due to a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control, such as the financial condition of our customers or the general economic environment. In addition, if we are unable to maintain the quality and performance of our service whether due to a lack of feature parity or quality of service relative to the products of our competitors or due to service outages or disruptions, we could experience potentially sharp increases in customer cancellations and/or downgrades or customer credits which would adversely impact our revenues.
Our success depends on our ability to acquire new customers, and to retain and sell additional services to our existing customers.
We generate revenue primarily from the sale of subscriptions to our cloud communications services to our customers, which include small and mid-size businesses, mid-market and larger enterprises, government agencies and other organizations. We define a “customer” as the legal entity or entities to which we provide services pursuant to a single contractual arrangement. Our future success depends on our ability to continue to increase the amount of revenue we generate, and the rate at which our revenues increase, from new and existing customers.
If our sales and marketing efforts are not effective in identifying and qualifying prospective new customers, demonstrating the quality, value, features and capabilities of our solutions to those prospects, and promoting our brand generally, we may not be able to acquire new customers at the rate necessary to achieve our revenue targets. We must also continue to design, develop, offer and sell services whose quality, cost, features and capabilities compare favorably to those offered by our competitors. As our target markets mature, or as competitors introduce lower cost and/or more differentiated products or services that compete or are perceived to compete with ours, we may be unable to attract new customers, on favorable terms, or at all, which could have an adverse effect on our revenue and growth.
In addition to acquiring new customers, we generate new revenue by selling our existing customers additional quantities of subscribed services, or subscriptions to new or upgraded services. Particularly in the case of large enterprises, we often have opportunities to expand the sale of our services within an organization after we have completed an initial sale to one part of the organization (for example, a business unit, division or department, or personnel based in a particular country or region) and the organization has qualified us as a vendor. We invest in efforts to educate and train users on the features and capabilities of our services so that they can become advocates within their organization and encourage increased adoption of our solutions. However, if existing users within an organization are dissatisfied with any aspect of our cloud services, or the technical support, training or other professional services we provide, we may face challenges in up-selling or increasing our penetration of the organization.
Intense competition for new customers and retaining existing customers (including pricing pressure) in the markets in which we compete may prevent us from increasing or sustaining our revenue growth, or achieving and maintaining profitability, which could materially harm our business.
The cloud communications industry is competitive and rapidly evolving. We expect the industry to be increasingly competitive in the future due to a number of factors including, but not limited to, the entry into the market of new competitors or the consolidation of existing competitors. Because we offer multiple services from a single platform, we compete with businesses in several overlapping industries, including voice, video meetings, chat, team messaging, contact center and enterprise-class API solutions.
In connection with our voice, video meetings, chat, team messaging, contact center, and enterprise-class API solutions, we face competition from other cloud service providers such as RingCentral, Inc., Genesys, Zoom Video Communications, Inc., Vonage Holdings Corp., Five9, Inc., NICE inContact, and Twilio Inc., among others as well as from legacy on-premises communications equipment providers such as Avaya, Cisco, and Mitel.
We may also face competition from Internet and cloud service companies such as Alphabet Inc. (Google Voice and Google Meet), Amazon Inc., and Microsoft Corporation, some of which are well established in the communications industry while others have only recently begun to market cloud communications solutions. Some of these competitors have developed software solutions for their respective communications and/or collaboration silos, such as Microsoft which is investing significantly in its Microsoft Teams unified communication and collaboration product. Any of these companies could launch a new cloud-based business communications service, expand its existing offerings to compete with features of our services, or enter into a strategic partnership with, or complete an acquisition of, one or more of our cloud communications competitors.
Many of our current and potential competitors have greater resources and brand awareness, and a larger base of customers than we have. As a result, these competitors may have greater marketing credibility. They also may adopt more aggressive pricing policies and devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products and services. Our competitors may also offer bundled service arrangements that present a more differentiated or better integrated product and services to customers. Increased competition could require us to lower our prices, reduce our sales revenue, increase our gross losses or cause us to lose market share. Announcements, or expectations, as to the introduction of new products and technologies by our competitors or us could cause customers to defer purchases of our existing products and services, which also could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results.
Given the significant price competition in the markets for our services, we may be at a disadvantage compared with those competitors who have substantially greater resources than us or may otherwise be better positioned to withstand an extended period of downward pricing pressure. The harm to our business may be magnified if we are unable to adjust our expenses to compensate for such shortfall, or if we determine that we need to increase our marketing and sales efforts in order to attract new customers and retain existing customers.
Failure to grow and manage our network of indirect sales channels partners could materially and adversely impact our revenues in the future.
Our future business success, particularly to attract and support larger customers and expand into international markets, depends on our indirect sales channels. These channels consist of master agents and subagents, independent software vendors ("ISVs"), system integrators, value-added resellers ("VARs"), and internet service providers, among others. We typically contract directly with the end customer and use these channel partners to identify, qualify and manage prospects throughout the sales cycle-although we also have arrangements with partners who purchase our services for resale to their own customers. Our future success depends upon our ability to develop and maintain successful relationships with these business partners, many of whom also market and sell services of our competitors and increasing the portion of sales opportunities they refer to us. To do so, we must continue to offer services that have quality, price, features, and other elements that compare favorably to competing services, ensure our partners are adequately trained and knowledgeable about our services, and provide sufficient incentives for these partners to sell our services in preference to those of our competitors. If we are unable to persuade our existing business partners to increase their sales of our services, or to build successful partnerships with new organizations, or if our channel partners are unsuccessful in their marketing and sales efforts, we may not be able to grow our business and increase our revenues at the rate we predict, or at all, and our business may be materially, adversely affected.
As we increase sales to enterprise customers, our sales process has become more complex and resource-intensive, our average sales cycle has become longer, and we have more difficulty predicting when sales will be completed.
We currently derive a majority of our new revenue growth from sales of our cloud software solutions to mid-market and larger enterprises, and we believe that increasing our sales to these customers is the key to our future growth. Our sales cycle, which is the time between initial contact with a potential customer and the ultimate sale to that customer, is often lengthy and unpredictable for larger enterprise customers. Many of our prospective enterprise customers do not have prior experience with cloud-based communications and, therefore, typically spend significant time and resources evaluating our solutions before they purchase from us. Similarly, we typically spend more time and effort determining their requirements and educating these customers about the benefits and uses of our solutions. Enterprise customers also tend to demand more customizations, integrations, and additional features than smaller customers. As a result, we may be required to divert more sales and engineering resources to a smaller number of large transactions than we have in the past, which means that we will have less personnel available to support other sectors, or that we will need to hire additional personnel, which would increase our operating expenses.
It is often difficult for us to forecast when a potential enterprise sale will close, the size of the customer's initial service order and the period over which the implementation will occur, any of which may impact the amount of revenue we recognize or the timing of revenue recognition. Enterprise customers may delay their purchases from one quarter to another as they assess their budget constraints, negotiate early contract terminations with their existing providers or wait for us to develop new features. Any delay in closing, or failure to close, a large enterprise sales opportunity in a particular quarter or year could significantly harm our projected growth rates and cause the amount of new sales we book to vary significantly from quarter to quarter. We also may have to delay revenue recognition on some of these transactions until the customer's technical or implementation requirements have been met.
The market for cloud software solutions is subject to rapid technological change, and we depend on new product and service introductions in order to maintain and grow our business.
We operate in an emerging market that is characterized by rapid changes in customer requirements, frequent introductions of new and enhanced products and services, and continuing and rapid technological advancement. To compete successfully in this emerging market, we must continue to design, develop, manufacture, and sell highly scalable new and enhanced cloud software solutions products and services that provide higher levels of performance and reliability at lower cost. If we are unable to develop new products and services that address our customers' needs, to deliver our cloud software solution applications in one seamless integrated service offering that addresses our customers' needs, or to enhance and improve our products and services in a timely manner, we may not be able to achieve or maintain adequate market acceptance of our services.
Our ability to grow is also subject to the risk of future disruptive technologies. If new technologies emerge that are able to deliver communications and collaboration solution services at lower prices, more efficiently, more conveniently, or more securely, such technologies could adversely impact our ability to compete.
We may have difficulty attracting or retaining senior management and other personnel with the industry experience and technical skills necessary to support our growth.
Companies in the cloud communications industry compete aggressively for top talent in all areas of business, but particularly senior management, sales and marketing, professional services, and engineering, where employees with industry experience, technical knowledge and specialized skill sets are particularly valued. Demand can be expected to increase if cloud communications continues to gain a greater share of the global communications market. Some of our competitors may respond to these competitive pressures by increasing employee compensation, paying more on average than we pay for the same position. Any such disparity in compensation could make us less attractive to candidates as a potential employer, which in turn may make it more difficult for us to hire and retain qualified employees. Training an individual who lacks prior cloud communications experience to be successful in a sales or technical role can take months or even years.
If an employee of 8x8 leaves to work for a competitor, not only are we impacted by the loss of the individual resource, but we also face the risk that the individual will share our trade secrets with the competitor in violation of their contractual and legal obligations to us. Our competitors have in the past and may in the future target their hiring efforts on a particular department, and if we lose a group of employees to a competitor over a short time period, our day-to-day operations may be impaired. While we may have remedies available to us through litigation, they would likely take significant time and expense and divert management attention from other areas of the business.
If we increase employee compensation (beyond levels that reflect customary performance-based and/or cost-of-living adjustments) in response to competitive pressures, we may sustain greater operating losses than we predicted in the near term, and we may not achieve profitability within the timeframe we had expected, or at all. In addition, we may need to issue equity at increased levels, now and in the future, to attract and retain key employees and executives, including weighting a greater percentage of our employees total compensation in the form of equity as opposed to cash, which will have the adverse effect of increasing dilution for our stockholders.
Taxing authorities have asserted that we should have collected or in the future should collect sales and use, value added, or similar taxes, including where similar services from competitors may not be subject to the same obligations to collect taxes from customers, and we have been and could be in the future subject to liability with respect to past or future sales, which have and could adversely affect our business.
The applicability of state and local taxes, fees, surcharges or similar taxes to our services is complex, ambiguous and subject to interpretation and change. In the United States, for example, we collect state and local taxes, fees and surcharges based on our understanding of the applicable laws in the relevant jurisdiction. The taxing authorities may challenge our interpretation of the laws and may assess additional taxes, penalties and interests which could have adverse effects on the results of operations and, to the extent we pass these through to our customers, demand for our services. Additionally, the applicability of sales and use, value added, or similar taxes may differ between services such as unified communication, voice, video, contact center and platform communications such that the obligations to collect taxes from customers may vary between services and between companies such that we may be obligated to collect taxes at a higher rate that other services from our competitors impacting customer demand for our services. We currently file more than 1,000 state and municipal tax returns monthly. Periodically, we have received inquiries from state and municipal taxing agencies with respect to the remittance of state or municipal taxes, fees or surcharges. Currently, several jurisdictions are conducting audits of 8x8; in the event our positions are unsuccessful, we may be subject to tax payments, interest, and penalties in excess of those that we have accrued for. As of March 31, 2021, we have accrued for state or municipal taxes, fees or surcharges that we believe are required to be remitted.
Our ability to use our net operating losses or research tax credits to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
As of March 31, 2021, we had federal net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards related to fiscal 2019 and later of approximately $433.0 million which carryforward indefinitely and carryforwards related to prior years of $137.8 million which begin to expire in 2022. As of March 31, 2021, the Company had state net operating loss carryforwards $296.6 million, which expire at various dates between 2029 and 2041. We also had research and development credit carryforwards for federal and California tax purposes of approximately $15.3 million and $16.9 million, respectively. The federal income tax credit carryforwards related to research and development will expire at various dates between 2022 and 2041, while the California income tax credits will carry forward indefinitely, but are subject to an annual cap of $5 million for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2020 and before January 1, 2023. Utilization of our NOL and tax credit carryforwards can become subject to a substantial annual limitation due to the ownership change limitations provided by Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code and similar state provisions. A Section 382 ownership change generally occurs if one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who own at least 5% of the stock increase their ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. Such an ownership change, or any future ownership change, could have a material effect on our ability to utilize the net operating loss or research credit carryforwards. In addition, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the Tax Act, the amount of NOLs that we are permitted to deduct in any taxable year is limited to 80% of the taxable income in such year. Under the CARES Act, this 80% limitation has been eliminated for tax years beginning before January 1, 2021. There is a risk that due to changes under the Tax Act, regulatory changes, or other unforeseen reasons, the existing NOLs could expire or otherwise be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities, which could have a material impact on our net income (loss) in future periods.
Risks Related to our Products and Operations
If our platform or services experience significant or repeated disruptions, outages or failures due to defects, bugs, vulnerabilities or similar software problems, or if we fail to determine the cause of any disruption or failure and correct it promptly, we could lose customers, become subject to service performance or warranty claims or incur significant costs, reducing our revenues and adversely affecting our operating results.
Our customers use our communications services to manage important aspects of their businesses, and any errors, defects, outages, or disruptions to our service or other performance problems with our service could hurt our reputation and may damage our customers' businesses, any of which may result in our granting of credits to customers that in turn would reduce our revenue. Our services and the systems infrastructure underlying our cloud communications platform incorporate software that is highly technical and complex. Our software has contained, and may now or in the future contain, undetected errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities to hackers, which have caused, and may in the future cause, temporary service outages or other disruptions for some customers. Some errors in our software code may not be discovered until after the code has been released. Any errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities discovered in our code after release could result in damage to our reputation, loss of customers, loss of revenue, or liability for service credits or damages, any of which could adversely affect our business and financial results. We implement bug fixes and upgrades as part of our regularly scheduled system maintenance, which may lead to system downtime. Even if we are able to implement the bug fixes and upgrades in a timely manner, any history of defects, or the loss, damage or inadvertent release of confidential customer data, could cause our reputation to be harmed, and customers may elect not to purchase or renew their agreements with us and subject us to service performance credits, warranty claims or increased insurance costs. The costs associated with any material defects or errors in our software or other performance problems may be substantial and could materially adversely affect our operating results.
Our physical infrastructure is concentrated in a few facilities (data centers and public cloud providers) and any failure in our physical infrastructure or service outages could lead to significant costs and/or disruptions and could reduce our revenue, harm our business reputation and have a material adverse effect on our financial results.
Our leased network and data centers as well as public cloud infrastructure are subject to points of failure. Problems with cooling equipment, generators, uninterruptible power supply, routers, switches, or other equipment, whether or not within our control, could result in service interruptions for our customers as well as equipment damage. Because our services do not require geographic proximity of our data centers to our customers, our infrastructure is consolidated into a few large data center facilities. Any failure or downtime in one of our data center facilities could affect a significant percentage of our customers. While our data center facilities are currently operating as essential businesses exempt from current shelter-in-place orders, further tightening of business closure orders or social distancing or COVID-19 outbreaks could negatively impact these facilities. The total destruction, closure, or severe impairment of any of our data center facilities could result in significant downtime of our services and the loss of customer data. Because our ability to attract and retain customers depends on our ability to provide customers with highly reliable service, even minor interruptions in our service could harm our reputation. Additionally, in connection with the expansion or consolidation of our existing data center facilities from time to time, there is an increased risk that service interruptions may occur as a result of server relocation or other unforeseen construction-related issues.
We have experienced interruptions in service in the past. The harm to our reputation is difficult to assess but has resulted and may result in the future in customer attrition. We have taken and continue to take steps to improve our infrastructure to prevent service interruptions, including upgrading our electrical and mechanical infrastructure. However, service interruptions continue to be a significant risk for us and could have a material adverse impact on our business.
Any future service interruptions could:
•cause our customers to seek service credits, or damages for losses incurred;
•require us to replace existing equipment or add redundant facilities;
•affect our reputation as a reliable provider of communications services;
•cause existing customers to cancel or elect to not renew their contracts; or
•make it more difficult for us to attract new customers.
We may be required to transfer our servers to new data center facilities or public cloud load to a different public cloud provider in the event that we are unable to renew our agreement or leases on acceptable terms, or at all, or the owners of the facilities decide to close their facilities, and we may incur significant costs and possible service interruption in connection with doing so. In addition, any financial difficulties, such as bankruptcy or foreclosure, faced by our third-party data center operators, or any of the service providers with which we or they contract, may have negative effects on our business, the nature and extent of which are difficult to predict. If our data centers or our public cloud providers are unable to keep up with our increasing needs for capacity, our ability to grow our business could be materially and adversely impacted.
We may not be able to scale our business efficiently or quickly enough to meet our customers' growing needs, leading to increased customer churn and damage to reputation and brand, each of which could harm our operating results.
As usage of our cloud software solutions by mid-market and larger enterprises expands and as customers continue to integrate our services across their enterprises, we are required to devote additional resources to improving our application architecture, integrating our products and applications across our technology platform, integrating with third-party systems, and maintaining infrastructure performance. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen increased usage of our services from our existing customers and may see further increases in usage from existing and new customers in the future if remote working trends continue to increase as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise. To the extent we increase our customer base and as our customers gain more experience with our services, the number of users and transactions managed by our services, the amount of data transferred, processed and stored by us, the number of locations where our service is being accessed, and the volume of communications managed by our services have in some cases, and may in the future, expand rapidly. In addition, we will need to appropriately scale and modernize our internal business systems and our services organization, including customer support, sales operations, billing services and regulatory, privacy and cybersecurity compliance, to serve our growing customer base. Any failure or delay in these efforts could cause impaired system performance and reduced customer satisfaction. These issues could adversely impact our reputation and brand, reduce the attractiveness of our cloud software solutions to customers, resulting in decreased sales to new customers, lower renewal rates by existing customers, the issuance of service credits, or requested refunds, which could hurt our revenue growth and our reputation.
Because our long-term growth strategy involves continued expansion outside the United States, our business will be susceptible to risks associated with international operations.
An important component of our growth strategy involves the further expansion of our operations and customer base internationally. We have formed subsidiaries outside the United States, including a subsidiary in Romania that contributes significantly to our research and development efforts. Additionally, through acquisitions, we have expanded into the U.K. and Southeast Asia. The risks and challenges associated with sales and other operations outside the United States are different in some ways from those associated with our operations in the United States, and we have a limited history addressing those risks and meeting those challenges. Our current international operations and future initiatives, including Southeast Asia, will involve a variety of risks, including:
•localization of our services, including translation into foreign languages and associated expenses;
•regulation of our services as traditional telecommunications services, requiring us to obtain authorizations or licenses to operate in foreign jurisdictions, or alternatively preventing us from selling our full suite of services, or any services at all, in such jurisdictions;
•changes in a specific country or region's regulatory requirements, taxes, trade laws, or political or economic conditions;
•increased competition from regional and global cloud communications competitors in the various geographic markets in which we compete where such markets may have different sales cycles, selling processes, and feature requirements which may limit our ability to compete effectively in different regions globally;
•more stringent regulations relating to data security and the unauthorized use of, access to, and transfer of, commercial and personal information, particularly in the European Union, or EU;
•differing labor regulations, especially in the EU and Latin America, where labor laws are generally more advantageous to employees as compared to the United States, including deemed hourly wage and overtime regulations in these locations;
•challenges inherent in efficiently managing an increased number of employees over large geographic distances, including the need to implement appropriate systems, policies, benefits and compliance programs;
•difficulties in managing a business in new markets with diverse cultures, languages, customs, legal systems, alternative dispute systems and regulatory systems;
•increased travel, real estate, infrastructure and legal compliance costs associated with international operations;
•different pricing environments, longer sales cycles, longer accounts receivable payment cycles and other collection difficulties;
•currency exchange rate fluctuations and the resulting effect on our revenue and expenses, and the cost and risk of entering into hedging transactions if we chose to do so in the future;
•limitations on our ability to reinvest earnings from operations in one country to fund the capital needs of our operations in other countries;
•laws and business practices favoring local competitors or general preferences for local vendors;
•limited or insufficient intellectual property protection;
•political instability or terrorist activities;
•exposure to liabilities under anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, trade and export laws such as those enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and similar laws and regulations in other jurisdictions;
•continuing uncertainty regarding social, political, immigration, and tax and trade policies in the U.S. and abroad, including as a result of the United Kingdom's vote to withdraw from the European Union;
•regional travel restrictions, business closures and shelter-in-place orders and resulting from COVID-19; and
•adverse tax burdens and foreign exchange controls that could make it difficult to repatriate earnings and cash.
We have limited experience in operating our business internationally, which increases the risk that any potential future expansion efforts that we may undertake will not be successful. We expect to invest substantial time and resources to expand our international operations. If we are unable to do this successfully and in a timely manner, our business and operating results could be materially adversely affected.
We face risks related to acquisitions now and in the future that may divert our management's attention, result in dilution to our stockholders and consume resources that are necessary to sustain and grow our existing business.
Although we have acquired several small companies and business units in recent years, we have limited experience with purchasing and integrating other businesses. We may not be able to identify suitable acquisition candidates in the future or negotiate and complete acquisitions on favorable terms.
If appropriate opportunities present themselves, we may decide to acquire such companies, or their products, technologies or assets. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, and there is no guarantee that we will ultimately strengthen our competitive position or achieve other benefits expected from the transaction. Among other risks we may encounter in connection with acquisitions:
•We may experience difficulty and delays in integrating the products, technology platform, operations, systems and personnel of the acquired business with our own, particularly if the acquired business is outside of our core competencies;
•We may not be able to manage the acquired business, or the integration process, effectively, which may limit our ability to realize the financial and strategic benefits we expected from the transaction;
•The acquisition and integration may divert management’s attention from our day-to-day operations and disrupt the ordinary functioning of our ongoing business;
•We may have difficulty establishing and maintaining appropriate governance, reporting relationships, policies, controls and procedures for the acquired business, particularly if it is based in a country or region where we did not previously operate;
•Any failure to successfully manage the integration process may also adversely impact relationships with our employees, suppliers, customers and business partners, or those of the acquired business, and may result in increased churn or the loss of key customers, business partners or employees for our business or those of the acquired business;
•We may become subject to new or more stringent regulatory compliance obligations and costs by virtue of the acquisition, including risks related to international acquisitions that may operate in new jurisdictions or geographic areas where we may have no or limited experience;
•We may become subject to litigation, investigations, proceedings, fines or penalties arising from or relating to the transaction or the acquired business, and any resulting liabilities may exceed our forecasts;
•We may acquire businesses with different revenue models, customer concentration risks, and contractual relationships;
•We may assume long-term contractual obligations, commitments or liabilities (for example, those relating to leased facilities), which could adversely impact our efforts to achieve and maintain profitability and impair our cash flow;
•We may not successfully evaluate or utilize the acquired technology and accurately forecast the financial impact of an acquisition transaction, including accounting charges; and
•The acquisition may create a drag on our overall revenue growth rate, which could lead analysts and investors to reduce their valuation of our company.
In addition, we may have to pay cash, incur debt, or issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition, each of which could affect our financial condition or the value of our capital stock. The sale of equity to finance any such acquisitions could result in dilution to our stockholders. If we incur more debt, it would result in increased fixed obligations and could also subject us to covenants or other restrictions that would impede our ability to flexibly operate our business.
As a result of these potential problems and risks, among others, businesses that we may acquire or invest in may not produce the revenue, competitive advantages, or business synergies that we anticipate, and the results and effects of any such acquisition may not be favorable enough to justify the amount of consideration we pay or the other investments we make in the acquired business.
If we do not or cannot maintain the compatibility of our communications and collaboration software with third-party applications and mobile platforms that our customers use in their businesses, our revenue could decline.
The functionality and popularity of our cloud software solutions depends, in part, on our ability to integrate our services with third-party applications and platforms, including enterprise resource planning, customer relations management, human capital management, workforce management, and other proprietary application suites. Third-party providers of applications and application programmable interfaces, or APIs, may change the features of their applications and platforms, restrict our access to their applications and platforms or alter the terms governing use of their applications and APIs and access to those applications and platforms in an adverse manner. Such changes could functionally limit or terminate our customers’ ability to use these third-party applications and platforms in conjunction with our services, which could negatively impact our offerings and harm our business. If we fail to integrate our software with new third-party back-end enterprise applications and platforms used by our customers, we may not be able to offer the functionality that our customers need, which would negatively impact our ability to generate revenue and adversely impact our business.
Our services also allow our customers to use and manage our cloud software solutions on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. As new smart devices and operating systems are released, we may encounter difficulties supporting these devices and services, and we may need to devote significant resources to the creation, support, and maintenance of our mobile applications. In addition, if we experience difficulties in the future integrating our mobile applications into smartphones, tablets or other mobile devices or if problems arise with our relationships with providers of mobile operating systems, such as those of Apple Inc. or Alphabet Inc. (Google), our future growth and our results of operations could suffer.
To provide our services, we rely on third parties for our network service and connectivity and any disruption or deterioration in the quality of these services or the increase in the costs we incur from these third parties could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We rely on third-party network service providers to originate and terminate substantially all of the PSTN calls using our cloud-based services. We leverage the infrastructure of third-party network service providers to provide telephone numbers, PSTN call termination and origination services, and local number portability for our customers rather than deploying our own network throughout the United States and internationally. We use the infrastructure of third-party network service providers, such as Equinix, Inc. and CenturyLink, Inc. and public cloud providers including AWS and Oracle, to provide our cloud services over their networks rather than deploying our own network connectivity. These decisions have resulted in lower capital and operating costs for our business in the short-term, but have reduced our operating flexibility and ability to make timely service changes. If any of these network service providers cease operations or otherwise terminate the services that we depend on or become unwilling to supply cost-effective services to us in the future, the delay in switching our technology to another network service provider, if available, and qualifying this new service provider could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results. In addition, the rates we pay to our network service providers and other intermediaries may also change more rapidly than we change the pricing we charge our customers, which may reduce our profitability and increase the retail price of our service.
We depend on third-party vendors for IP phones and certain software endpoints, and any delay or interruption in supply by these vendors would result in delayed or reduced shipments to our customers and may harm our business.
We rely on third-party vendors for IP phones and software endpoints required to utilize our service. We currently do not have long-term supply contracts with any of these vendors. As a result, most of these third-party vendors are not obligated to provide products or services to us for any specific period, in any specific quantities or at any specific price, except as may be provided in a particular purchase order. The inability of these third-party vendors to deliver IP phones of acceptable quality and in a timely manner, particularly the sole source vendors, could adversely affect our operating results or cause them to fluctuate more than anticipated. Additionally, some of our products and services may require specialized or high-performance component parts that may not be available in quantities or in time frames that meet our requirements due to COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise.
Difficulty executing local number porting requests could negatively impact our business.
The FCC and foreign regulators require VoIP providers to support telephone number porting within specified timeframes. In order to port telephone numbers, we rely on third party telecommunications carriers to complete the process. Often number ports take longer than the specified timeframes. For many potential customers, the ability to quickly port their existing telephone numbers into our service in a timely fashion is a very important consideration. To the extent that we cannot quickly port telephone numbers in, our ability to acquire new customers may be negatively impacted. To the extent that we cannot quickly port telephone numbers out when a customer leaves our service to go to another provider, we could be subject to regulatory enforcement action.
Risks Related to Regulatory Matters
Vulnerabilities to security breaches, cyber intrusions and other malicious acts could adversely impact our business.
Our operations depend on our ability to protect our network from interruption by damage from hackers, social engineering and phishing, ransomware, computer viruses, worms, other malicious software programs or similar disruptive problems or other events beyond our control. In the past, we have been subject to denial or disruption of service ("DDOS"), and we may be subject to DDOS attacks in the future. We cannot assure you that our backup systems, regular data backups, security protocols, DDOS mitigation and other procedures that are currently in place, or that may be in place in the future, will be adequate to prevent significant damage, system failure or data loss.
Inherent in our provision of service are the storage, processing, and transmission of our customers' data, which may include confidential and sensitive information. Customers may use our services to store, process and transmit a wide variety of confidential and sensitive information such as credit card, bank account and other financial information, proprietary information, trade secrets or other data that may be protected by sector-specific laws and regulations like intellectual property laws, laws addressing the protection of personally identifiable information (or personal data in the European Union), as well as the Federal Communications Commission’s, or the FCC’s, customer proprietary network information (“CPNI”) rules. We may be targets of cyber threats and security breaches, given the nature of the information we store, process and transmit and the fact that we provide communications services to a broad range of businesses.
In addition, we use third-party vendors which in some cases have access to our data and our customers' data. Despite the implementation of security measures by us or our vendors, our computing devices, infrastructure or networks, or our vendors computing devices, infrastructure or networks may be vulnerable to hackers, social engineering and phishing, ransomware, computer viruses, worms, other malicious software programs or similar disruptive problems due to a security vulnerability in our or our vendors' infrastructure or network, or our vendors, customers, employees, business partners, consultants or other internet users who attempt to invade our or our vendors' public and private computers, tablets, mobile devices, software, data networks, or voice networks. If there is a security vulnerability in our or our vendors' infrastructure or networks that is successfully targeted, we could face increased costs, liability claims, government investigations, fines, penalties or forfeitures, class action litigation, reduced revenue, or harm to our reputation or competitive position.
We could be liable for breaches of security on our website, fraudulent activities by our users, or the failure of third-party vendors to deliver credit card transaction processing services.
A fundamental requirement for operating an Internet-based, worldwide cloud software solution and electronically billing our customers is the secure transmission of confidential information and media over public networks. Although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to protect consumer information and prevent fraudulent credit card transactions and other security breaches, failure to mitigate such fraud or breaches may subject us to costly breach notification and other mitigation obligations, class action lawsuits, investigations, fines, forfeitures or penalties from governmental agencies that could adversely affect our operating results.
The law relating to the liability of providers of online payment services is currently unsettled and states may enact their own rules with which we may not comply. We rely on third-party providers to process and guarantee payments made by our subscribers up to certain limits, and we may be unable to prevent our customers from fraudulently receiving goods and services. Our liability risk will increase if a larger fraction of transactions affected using our cloud-based services involve fraudulent or disputed credit card transactions.
We may also experience losses due to subscriber fraud and theft of service. Subscribers have, in the past, obtained access to our service without paying for monthly service and international toll calls by unlawfully using our authorization codes or by submitting fraudulent credit card information. If our existing anti-fraud procedures are not adequate or effective, consumer fraud and theft of service could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Failure to comply with laws and contractual obligations related to data privacy and protection could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
We process many types of data, including personal data in the course of our business. As such, we are subject to the data privacy and protection laws and regulations adopted by federal, state and foreign governmental agencies, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") and the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"). Data privacy and protection is highly regulated in many jurisdictions and may become the subject of additional regulation in the future. For example, lawmakers and regulators worldwide are considering proposals that would require companies, like us, that encrypt users' data to ensure access to such data by law enforcement authorities. Privacy laws restrict our processing of personal information, provided to us by our customers as well as data we collect from our customers and employees. We strive to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, policies and legal obligations relating to privacy and data protection. However, if we fail to comply, we may be subject to fines, penalties and lawsuits, statutory damages at both the federal and state levels in the U.S., substantial fines and penalties under the European Union’s GDPR, class action lawsuits, and our reputation may suffer. We may also be required to make modifications to our data practices that could have an adverse impact on our business, including increasing our operating costs which may cause us to increase our prices making our services less competitive.
We are also subject to the privacy and data protection-related obligations in our contracts with our customers and other third parties. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with federal, state, or international laws, including laws and regulations regulating privacy, data or consumer protection, or to comply with our contractual obligations related to privacy, could result in proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities, contractual parties or others, which could result in significant liability to us, as well as harm our reputation. Additionally, third parties on which we rely enter into contracts to protect and safeguard our customers' data. Should such parties violate these agreements or suffer a breach, we could be subject to proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities, contractual parties or others, which could result in significant liability to us as well as harm to our reputation.
Our products and services must comply with industry standards, FCC regulations, state, local, country-specific and international regulations, and changes may require us to modify existing services, potentially increase our costs or prices we charge customers, and otherwise harm our business.
As a provider of interconnected VoIP services, we are subject to various international, federal, state and local requirements applicable to our industry, including those that address, among other matters, acceptable marketing practices, the accessibility of 9-1-1 or other international emergency services, local number porting, robo-calling, and caller ID spoofing. The failure of our products and services to comply, or delays in compliance, with various existing and evolving standards could delay or interrupt our introduction of new products, subject us to fines or other imposed penalties, or harm our reputation, any of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results.
Regulations to which we may be subject address the following matters, among others:
•license requirements that apply to providers of communications services in many jurisdictions;
•our obligation to contribute to various Universal Service Fund programs, including at the state level;
•monitoring on rural call completion rates;
•safeguarding and use of Customer Proprietary Network Information ("CPNI");
•rules concerning access requirements for users with disabilities;
•our obligation to offer 7-1-1 abbreviated dialing for access to relay services;
•compliance with the requirements of U.S. and foreign law enforcement agencies, including the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act ("CALEA"), and cooperation with local authorities in conducting wiretaps, pen traps and other surveillance activities;
•the ability to dial 9-1-1 (or corresponding numbers in regions outside the U.S.), auto-locate E-911 calls (or corresponding equivalents) when required, and access emergency services;
•the transmission of telephone numbers associated with calling parties between carriers and service providers like us;
•regulations governing outbound dialing, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act; and
•FCC and other regulators efforts to combat robo-calling and caller ID spoofing.
Regulation of our services as telecommunications services may require us to obtain authorizations or licenses to operate in foreign jurisdictions and comply with legal requirements applicable to traditional telephony providers. This regulation may impact our ability to differentiate ourselves from incumbent service providers and imposes substantial compliance costs on us. In addition, the reform of federal and state Universal Service Fund programs and payment of regulatory and other fees in international markets, could increase the cost of our service to our customers diminishing or eliminating any pricing advantage we may have.
Efforts to address robo-calling and caller ID spoofing could cause us competitive harm.
In June 2019, the FCC ruled that providers of voice services may by default (subject to opt-out by subscribers) block voice traffic based on reasonable analytics designed to identify unwanted calls. In March 2020, the FCC required that all voice service providers implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework in the Internet Protocol (IP) portions of their networks by June 30, 2021. There is significant uncertainty regarding how STIR/SHAKEN will work. For example, there is currently no accepted standard by which voice service providers that do not have authorization to directly obtain telephone numbers will be able to authenticate calls originated by their customers. We have obtained authorization to directly obtain telephone numbers in the U.S. in order to be able to authenticate calls under STIR/SHAKEN originated by our subscribers. The STIR/SHAKEN framework will likely be used throughout the world. It is likely that the standards to obtain STIR/SHAKEN signing authority in other countries will differ from the U.S. requirements and similar to the U.S., there are no accepted standards yet for how voice service providers that do not have direct STIR/SHAKEN signing authority will be able to authenticate calls originated by their customers. In addition, foreign regulators have allowed terminating voice service providers to block voice traffic to address robo-calling or other unwanted calls. If we do not have a solution in place for STIR/SHAKEN when STIR/SHAKEN becomes widely adopted, our business could be harmed as we would be unable to authenticate originating calls from our subscriber’s telephone numbers under STIR/SHAKEN. Call recipients would be less likely to answer non-authenticated calls. In addition, the terminating voice service providers may block calls that are not authenticated under STIR/SHAKEN as the lack of authentication could be viewed as a reasonable indication that the call is unwanted by the recipient. This would make our service less desirable for our customers. Further if we do not have STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication in place when required, we could be subject to regulatory enforcement action.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
Our infringement of a third party's proprietary technology could disrupt our business.
If we are found to be infringing on the intellectual property rights of any third-party in lawsuits or proceedings that may be asserted against us, we could be subject to monetary liabilities for such infringement, which could be material. We could also be required to refrain from using, manufacturing or selling certain products or using certain processes, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. Our broad range of current and former technology, including IP telephony systems, digital and analog circuits, software, and semiconductors, increases the likelihood that third parties may claim infringement by us of their intellectual property rights. We have received and may continue to receive in the future, notices of claims of infringement, misappropriation or misuse of other parties' proprietary rights. There can be no assurance that we will prevail in these discussions and actions or that other actions alleging infringement by us of third-party patents will not be asserted or prosecuted against us. Furthermore, lawsuits like these may require significant time and expense to defend, may divert management's attention away from other aspects of our operations and, upon resolution, may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Inability to protect our proprietary technology would disrupt our business.
We rely, in part, on patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret law to protect our intellectual property in the United States and abroad. We seek to protect our software, documentation, and other written materials under trade secret and copyright law, which afford only limited protection. We currently have several United States patent applications pending. We cannot predict whether such pending patent applications will result in issued patents, and if they do, whether such patents will effectively protect our intellectual property. The intellectual property rights we obtain may not be sufficient to provide us with a competitive advantage, and could be challenged, invalidated, infringed or misappropriated. We may not be able to protect our proprietary rights in the United States or internationally (where effective intellectual property protection may be unavailable or limited), and competitors may independently develop technologies that are similar or superior to our technology, duplicate our technology or design around any patent of ours.
Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, to determine the validity and scope of our proprietary rights or the rights of others, or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of management time and resources and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. Any settlement or adverse determination in such litigation would also subject us to significant liability.
Our inability to use software licensed from third parties, or our use of open source software under license terms that interfere with our proprietary rights, could disrupt our business.
Our technology platform incorporates software licensed from third parties, including some software, known as open source software, which we use without charge. Although we monitor our use of open source software, the terms of many open source licenses to which we are subject have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to provide our platform to our customers. In the future, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties in order to continue offering our platform, which licenses may not be available on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. Alternatively, we may need to re-engineer our platform or discontinue use of portions of the functionality provided by our platform. In addition, the terms of open source software licenses may require us to provide software that we develop using such software to others on unfavorable license terms. Our inability to use third-party software could result in disruptions to our business, or delays in the development of future offerings or enhancements of existing offerings, which could impair our business.
Risks Related to our Debt, our Stock, and our Charter
Servicing our debt, including the paying down of principal, requires the use of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay down our substantial debt.
As of November 21, 2019, we had issued $362.5 million aggregate principal amount of our 0.50% convertible senior notes due 2024 in a private placement. Pursuant to an indenture dated as of February 19, 2019 between us and Wilmington Trust, National Association, as trustee, the notes bear interest at a rate of 0.50% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears in cash on February 1 and August 1 of each year, and they will mature on February 1, 2024, unless earlier converted, redeemed or repurchased.
Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness, including the amounts payable under the notes, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not continue to generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt, including paying off the principal when due, and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations.
We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle conversions of the notes in cash or to repurchase the notes upon a fundamental change, and our future debt may contain limitations on our ability to pay cash upon conversion or repurchase of the notes.
Holders of the notes have the right to require us to repurchase their notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any. In addition, upon conversion of the notes, unless we elect to deliver solely shares of our common stock to settle such conversion (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the notes being converted. However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of notes surrendered therefor or notes being converted. In addition, our ability to repurchase the notes or to pay cash upon conversions of the notes may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the indenture or to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the notes as required by the indenture would constitute a default under the indenture. A default under the indenture or the occurrence of the fundamental change may also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the notes or make cash payments upon conversions thereof.
The conditional conversion feature of the notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
In the event the conditional conversion feature of the notes is triggered, holders of notes will be entitled to convert the notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders of notes do not elect to convert their notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.
The accounting method for convertible debt securities that may be settled in cash, such as our notes, could have a material effect on our reported financial results.
Under Accounting Standards Codification 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options (“ASC 470-20”), an entity must separately account for the liability and equity components of the convertible debt instruments (such as the notes) that may be settled entirely or partially in cash upon conversion in a manner that reflects the issuer’s economic interest cost. The effect of ASC 470-20 on the accounting for the notes is that the equity component is required to be included in the additional paid-in capital section of stockholders’ equity on our consolidated balance sheet at the issuance date and the value of the equity component would be treated as debt discount for purposes of accounting for the debt component of the notes. As a result, we will be required to record a greater amount of non-cash interest expense as a result of the amortization of the discounted carrying value of the notes to their face amount over the term of the notes. We will report larger net losses (or lower net income) in our financial results because ASC 470-20 will require interest to include both the amortization of the debt discount and the instrument’s non-convertible coupon interest rate, which could adversely affect our reported or future financial results, the trading price of our common stock and the trading price of the notes.
In addition, under certain circumstances, convertible debt instruments (such as the notes) that may be settled entirely or partly in cash may be accounted for utilizing the treasury stock method, the effect of which is that the shares issuable upon conversion of such notes are not included in the calculation of diluted earnings per share except to the extent that the conversion value of such notes exceeds their principal amount. Under the treasury stock method, for diluted earnings per share purposes, the transaction is accounted for as if the number of shares of common stock that would be necessary to settle such excess, if we elected to settle such excess in shares, are issued. We cannot be sure that the accounting standards in the future will continue to permit the use of the treasury stock method. If we are unable or otherwise elect not to use the treasury stock method in accounting for the shares issuable upon conversion of the notes, then our diluted earnings per share could be adversely affected.
The capped call transactions entered into in connection with our sale of notes may affect the market value of our common stock.
In connection with the offer and sale of the notes, we entered into capped call transactions with one or more of the initial purchasers or affiliates thereof and/or other financial institutions (the “option counterparties”). The capped call transactions are expected generally to reduce the potential dilution upon conversion of the notes at maturity and/or offset any cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount of converted notes, as the case may be, with such reduction and/or offset subject to a cap.
In capped call transactions similar to the ones we entered into, the option counterparties or their respective affiliates typically enter into various derivative transactions with respect to the issuer's common stock and/or purchase shares of the issuer's common stock concurrently with or shortly after the pricing of the notes. The option counterparties or their respective affiliates in our capped call transactions may modify their hedge positions by entering into or unwinding various derivatives with respect to our common stock and/or purchasing or selling our common stock or other securities of ours in secondary market transactions following the pricing of the notes and prior to the maturity of the notes (and are likely to do so during the valuation period for the capped call transactions, which is expected to occur during the 40 trading day period beginning on the 41st scheduled trading day prior to the maturity of the notes). This activity could also cause or avoid an increase or a decrease in the market price of our common stock.
Future sales of our common stock or equity-linked securities in the public market could lower the market price of our common stock.
In the future, we may sell additional shares of our common stock or equity-linked securities to raise capital. In addition, a substantial number of shares of our common stock is reserved for issuance upon the exercise of stock options, upon the vesting and settlement of restricted stock units and performance units, stock purchases in connection with our Employee Stock Purchase Program, and upon conversion of our notes. We cannot predict the size of future issuances or the effect, if any, that they may have on the market price for our common stock. The issuance and sale of substantial amounts of common stock or equity-linked securities, or the perception that such issuances and sales may occur, could adversely affect the trading price of the notes and the market price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity or equity-linked securities.
Certain provisions in our charter documents and Delaware law could discourage takeover attempts.
Our restated certificate of incorporation and by-laws contain provisions that could have the effect of delaying or preventing changes in control or changes in our management without the consent of our board of directors, including, among other things:
•no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates;
•the ability of our board of directors to issue shares of preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer;
•the exclusive right of our board of directors to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of our board of directors or the resignation, death or removal of a director, which prevents stockholders from being able to fill vacancies on our board of directors;
•a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders;
•the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our Board of Directors or by stockholders holdings shares of our common stock representing in the aggregate a majority of votes then outstanding, which could delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;
•the ability of our board of directors, by majority vote, to amend our by-laws, which may allow our board of directors to take additional actions to prevent a hostile acquisition and inhibit the ability of an acquirer to amend our by-laws to facilitate a hostile acquisition; and
•advance notice procedures with which stockholders must comply to nominate candidates to our board of directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders' meeting, which may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer's own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.
We are also subject to certain anti-takeover provisions under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware ("DGCL"). Under Section 203 of the DGCL, a corporation may not, in general, engage in a business combination with any holder of 15% or more of its capital stock unless the holder has held the stock for three years or (a) our board of directors approves the transaction prior to the stockholder acquiring the 15% ownership position, (b) upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder acquiring the 15% ownership position, the stockholder owns at least 85% of the outstanding voting stock (excluding shares owned by directors or officers and shares owned by certain employee stock plans) or (c) the transaction is approved by the board of directors and by the stockholders at an annual or special meeting by a vote of 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock (excluding shares held or controlled by the interested stockholder). These provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and by-laws and under Delaware law could discourage potential takeover attempts.
General Risk Factors
COVID-19 and any economic difficulty it triggers could significantly harm our business.
The global spread of COVID-19 has created significant volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. Many of our existing and prospective customers have experienced economic hardship. This could reduce the demand for our cloud services, delay and lengthen sales cycles, increase customer churn, force us to lower the prices for our services and/or provide customers with service credits, and lead to slower growth or even a decline in our revenues, operating results and cash flows. The impact of COVID-19 on demand for our services depends on numerous evolving factors including: the duration and scope of the pandemic; governmental, business and individuals’ actions that have been and continue to be taken in response to the pandemic; the rate of vaccinations globally and the efficacy of available vaccines; the effect on our customers and customer demand and their ability to pay for our services; disruptions to third-party data centers and Internet service providers; and any decline in the quality and/or availability of our services. And it It is possible that as businesses return to in-person work the demand for some of our products could decline.
The impact of COVID-19 on macroeconomic conditions has at some periods also impacted the functioning of financial and capital markets, foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates. Since we are not cash flow positive, depending on the duration of the COVID-19 crisis and any economic recession that it triggers, we may need to access the capital markets at an unfavorable time. If we need to access the capital markets, there can be no assurance that financing may be available on attractive terms, if at all.
We may not be able to secure financing on favorable terms, or at all, to meet our future capital needs.
We may need to pursue financing in the future to make expenditures or investments to support the growth of our business (whether through acquisitions or otherwise) and may require additional capital to pursue our business objectives, respond to new competitive pressures, service our debt, pay extraordinary expenses such as litigation settlements or judgments or fund growth, including through acquisitions, among other potential uses. Additional funds, however, may not be available when we need them on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to grow and support our business and to respond to business challenges could be significantly limited.
Natural disasters, war, terrorist attacks, global pandemics or malicious conduct, among other unforeseen events, could adversely impact our operations, could degrade or impede our ability to offer services, and may negatively impact our financial condition, revenues and costs going forward.
Our cloud communications services rely on uninterrupted connection to the Internet through data centers and networks. Any interruption or disruption to our network, or the third parties on which we rely, could adversely impact our ability to provide service. Our network could be disrupted by circumstances outside of our control including natural disasters, acts of war, terrorist attacks, global pandemics or malicious acts, among other unforeseen events, including, but not limited to, cyber-attacks. For example, our headquarters, global networks operations center and one of our third-party data center facilities are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for seismic activity. Also, global pandemics, such as the one caused by COVID-19, may restrict travel by personnel, reduce the availability of materials required to maintain data centers that support our cloud communication services, and could require us or our partner data centers and Internet service providers to curtail operations in certain geographic regions. Such an event may also impede our customers' connections to our network, since these connections also occur over the Internet, and would be perceived by our customers as an interruption of our services, even though such interruption would be beyond our control. In addition, as a result of COVID-19, we have been experiencing changes to our normal business practices due to our employees working from home in compliance with shelter-in-place orders in many of our office locations. As we implement modifications to employee travel and employee work locations in response, among other business modifications, these changes could, in the future, negatively impact our normal provision of services, particularly in the areas of sales and marketing to new and prospective customers. Any of these events could have a material adverse impact on our business causing us to incur significant expenses, lose substantial amounts of revenue, suffer damage to our reputation, and lose customers.